As a ranged support, getting pulled right next to my focused ADC is bad for my existence
First off as a ranged support you should always be beside your ADC/APC. A ranged support is supposed to be in the backline or right in front of her carries. You're not protecting the tank and you're not protecting yourself. You're supposed to be saving the carries from the assassins and bruisers that try to jump past your tank and beat your carries black and blue. If you're saying it's because you'll get focused more, then that's 100% what you want if you're being focused, then your start using the heals/shields on your self and buff spamming your adc because your ADC is more than positively able to kill the enemies if nobody is focusing him. If you die then the trade should be a support for an assassin or a support for a bruiser if you're by your adc. If you're not standing where you belong as a ranged support (aka right by your adc) then the trade becomes an ADC for an assassin/bruiser that may grab the focus of 4 people and die at the expense of the enemy adc/apc getting to take out the rest of your team, or it becomes an ADC for an assassin/bruiser who gets out of the fight with 100hp and therefore is nor out of the fight but not actually dead.
Her Oathsworn effect is bound to one player forever which means if that 1 player DCs or decides to avoid Kalista (maybe he hates her ult, I would) then Kalista gets screwed over because she cannot benefit from this effect.
But what I actually came to post about was advice for this. I haven't been seeing Kalista's start with whichever ability gives her and her Oathsworn extra damage for targeting the same person. Obviously you also don't start with your ult. You don't need to right out of the base Oathsworn with somebody. You can wait a couple of levels get a feel for the jungler's attitude, a feel for the toplaner's attitude a feel for your support, and then see who it's a good idea to bind to you. If your support is sitting there calling you bad, don't try to Oathsworn them, if your jungler is trying to dive towers when people ping to fall back, they aren't the right fit. The whole idea for Kalista is to encourage teamwork, as such get a feel for your team and don't just think that because you have a support you have to be bound to them. I'd also suggest verbally asking them (or well typing) if it is okay for you to make them your oathsworn and I would offer out the gesture that before you plan to ult them you'll ping for assistance right over the enemy team and ask them to be be pinging assistance of pinging to back away throughout the game if they want to be ulted in when you haven't yet suggested it or if when you ping that you want to ult, they are like 'uhh no everything is on cd, I'm going to ping to fall back so I don't get stuck in the enemy team with no abilities'.
I can very much agree with my distaste that the Oathsworn doesn't get a button to accept it, but I find that Kalista, even in solo queue, will be able to avoid a lot of trolls if she doesn't just start the game by automatically binding to someone. I also feel that by waiting to bind to someone and then asking if it's okay, your teammates should be more willing to trust that you're not going to troll them because you're showing them you're a positive and considerate player and you're proving that you're putting their feelings into this decision not just trying to throw them into the battlefield.
Otherwise, don't play Kalista in solo queue and if you see an adc click on Kalista tell them you aren't comfortable being bound to them before the game starts so they have a chance to choose someone else. Not every champion is meant for every situation. You don't pick Veigar into a full AD team, you don't pick Rammus into a full AP team, you don't pick Yi/Fiora into a team with lots of CC, you don't pick Teemo top if you have a squishy team. If Kalista becomes the 'only pick if you trust your lane partner' kind of champion that's alright not every champion has to be the guy that works well in every game.
